3D Imaging and Printing Lab Development Begins Thanks to Murdock and NSF Grants

Students, faculty and staff at the University of Idaho can soon scan and print some of the largest and most complex three-dimensional biomedical structures in the Pacific Northwest. A recent $250,000 grant from the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust Scientific Research Instrumentation Program this summer combined with a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) Major Research Instrumentation Program in Fall 2020 will secure equipment purchases and allow development to begin this summer on U of I’s 3D Imaging and Printing Laboratory. Completion of the lab is expected by October.

To be housed in the Integrated Research and Innovation Center, the state-of-the-art lab will include an integrated 3D imaging and printing system, consisting of a high-resolution imaging SkyScan 1275 3D MicroCT Scanner, a Stratasys J850 Pro mixed-material 3D printer and a Dell Precision Workstation that connects them. The lab will allow for advanced research in many topics, including the mechanisms of lung ventilation, cerebrospinal fluid drug delivery, aneurysm treatment methods and the mechanical properties of biological tissues.

“Both grants involve nine U of I faculty across the university who advise four interdisciplinary teams that will extensively use the integrated system for their research on biofluids and biomechanics,” said Tao Xing, associate professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and principal investigator on both grants.

The project was funded to University of Idaho by National Science Foundation under award 2019231. The total project funding is $360,774.00 of which 70% is the federal share.